Limerick author pens critically acclaimed new crime novel

The World's End: Castleconnell native Karen Fitzgibbon wrote her first novel, a crime fiction thriller, at home during lockdown

placeholder image — The World's End: Castleconnell native Karen Fitzgibbon wrote her first novel, a crime fiction thriller, at home during lockdown

During lockdown, Karen sat in the corner of her living room, to write the page-turner now seen dotted along bookshop shelves

THE ENDEAVOUR of publishing a novel is far from easy, and that ‘pinch me’ moment came for Karen Fitzgibbon one afternoon when she received a large delivery to her Limerick city home.

After finally finding a publisher who snapped up her debut novel, The World’s End - the first installment in a series she envisions - Karen received a box packed to the brim of her glossy soft-back bound work.

The moment was so stunning to the Castleconnell native, that she left it unopened for hours, until she was ready for the realisation that she had achieved ‘it’ - after years of writing, she had just become a published author.

The premise of the crime fiction debut is one of mystery. On a beautiful weekend in May, Grace, and her friend Sarah travel to the seaside village of Castle Cove. After a night of partying, they hire a boat and sail to a nearby island. Five go out, but only four return, and a year later, private investigator Lana Bowen is set on getting to the bottom of the case.

The inspiration for the setting came as Karen reflected on all of the beautiful seasides she has ever had the joy of witnessing. About 15 years previous to the release, Karen recalls visiting Seafield Beach in Quilty, Co Clare, in particular the remains of a home her mother-in-law had mentioned.

“You have to cross the field to get to the beach. And that's where the ruin of this house is and there's an outline of a swimming pool there. But you can just see the pale blue paint on the outline, but it's all overgrown. And I just thought, ‘What is this place?’”

Having been captured by the sights, the cogs of her creative mind began to turn. In January 2021, as lockdown engulfed the world, Karen sat in the corner of her living room, to write the first draft of the page-turner which can now be seen dotted along the shelves at O’Mahony’s bookshop on O’Connell Street in the city.

Wife to Pat, and mother-of-three to Peter, Lauren and Jonathon (pictured above), and proud owner of cherished springer spaniel, Major, the author agrees that while writing is a solitary activity, her family were always on-side to hear her latest page-turning development, proofread pages or even listen to how she twisted the plotline entirely halfway through.

“I changed the perpetrator halfway through the book,” she candidly states. “So, it could be any of the four who returned, and I explored each one of them. It was almost like I was investigating the story, as well as Lana Bowen.”

Having sent three drafted novels, including the first installment seen on shelves today, to numerous publishers, Karen became used to the feeling of rejection, adding that it was even something she came to expect.

However, the moment that faithful acceptance email arrived, Karen admits to glancing only at the teaser line, which read: “Hi, Karen, just to let you know that we've read all three novels and…”

“I rang my son, Peter, hyperventilating, I couldn’t open the email, so I gave him all of my details, he opened it and he said ‘oh mom’, and that was the best, you know, it was a true pinch me moment.”

The writing process for Karen is unlike that of many other authors. “My process is that I don't have one, and I discovered that as I went along,” Karen revealed. “I've made lots of attempts to write books, I've even finished one but kept getting stuck and found the whole thing really, really hard, so I originally just thought it wasn’t for me.”

However, after being sent a link to an online writers workshop, Karen found herself excited to begin writing fiction again. “I've been writing scripts for theatre and film with Limerick community groups for donkey's years, and I thought, why not give this another go?”

So far, the novel is a hit with family and friends alike, with even reviews from acclaimed authors such as Limerick’s Donal Ryan and fellow crime fiction author, Patricia Gibney.

Karen's love affair with words stems from her passion for page-turners, citing Patricia Cornwell as one of many inspirations. “I love reading and I love page-turners.

“I love when characters are gritty and not too polished,” she added.

However, it also stems from her passion for theatre. Productions were a calling for Karen over the years, as seen with her own company, Teaspach, the Irish word which colloquially translates to ‘high energy’. She brought drama to the Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board, allowing it to be used as a teaching tool, while also working with the Northside Misfits, Southill Community and Drama Groups, St Saviour’s, Thomond Studio, and more.

“When I started using it to teach at first, it was a case of, let's write the script rather than choose it, because when you have a group of 15 people, and there's men and women of different ages, it's really hard to find a script that's going to suit them. So, you have to write your own.”

Limerick, she appreciates, is becoming a more vibrant scene for the arts, and culture. With each home-grown project seemingly flourishing, Karen continues to bring drama to life by writing scripts for locally-shot short films.

Seeing her previous words jump from their pages has Karen dreaming of The World’s End hitting the big or small screens, or in whatever format the production teams see fit!